Super Bowl XLVIII: Peyton Manning, John Elway are kindred spirits

Jan. 29, 2014

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John Elway, executive VP of football operations, celebrates with Peyton Manning after they beat the Patriots in the AFC championship game on Jan. 19, 2014. / Getty Images

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JERSEY CITY, N.J. — The long history of success really isn’t what sets Peyton Manning apart from his Denver Broncos teammates.

It’s the fact that he’s 37 years old.

John Elway is the one person in the organization Manning can relate to. He typically engages the Broncos’ executive vice president of football operations on a weekly basis. Life between the lines is only a small part of the conversation.

“Certain players might not want to play for somebody like that in that role,” said Manning, who established single-season records this season when he threw for 5,477 yards and 55 touchdowns. “For me, I’ve known John Elway for quite some time. I met him when I was a young man. He knew my dad. John was always one of my favorite quarterbacks along with Dan Marino and the other guys of that generation. … I’ve seen John different times throughout the years, and I just really saw him as a potential great resource for me at 37 years old. I thought he could give me some good pieces of advice on kind of what he did, how he approached the game at that age.”

Elway is happy to be involved on a personal level with Manning. They both grew up with fathers who happened to be very successful in the business. Elway won a second championship at 38 years old, and left the game on top.

“I think that relationship definitely helped,” Elway said. “I would’ve liked to have had somebody who had been in the position running an organization when I was playing quarterback too that had the same mindset. I have never really talked to him about exactly why he chose Denver, but I have a feeling that that was part of the decision.”

It sounds like the two have discussed the subject of retirement.

“I think John Elway would still be playing football if he could physically,” Manning said. “Based on his words to me, physically he just couldn’t do it anymore. It was too hard to practice, it was too hard to play in the games, and it was painful. He just had nothing left to give out there. That’s why he decided to retire. Had he felt better, he would have kept playing.”

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The four-time MVP has expressed a desire to continue playing beyond this year.

“I think for Peyton to be able to have somebody in the building who’s a Hall of Fame quarterback to talk with, if he needs to, is to his benefit,” Denver offensive coordinator Adam Gase said Wednesday before practice. “I don’t really know what their conversation schedule has been over the last two years, but John has been a great sounding board. That door is open, and whoever you are, you can walk in there.”

Elway and Manning have both avoided the legacy question this week, but it keeps coming up.

“At 37 years old, and in my 16th season, especially in a week like this, I think it’s healthy to take some time to reflect and smell the roses,” Manning said. “This legacy question keeps popping up, and I guess I had a little more time to think about it. If I had my choice, what my legacy would be, would be that I played my butt off for every team that I ever played on, I was a really good teammate, and I did everything I could to win. Whatever happens along in that time is fine with me. Those are things that I care about.”